The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea of hybrid origin and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Purple Emperor’. ‘Purple Emperor’ represents a new coneflower, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The new cultivar arose from an ongoing breeding program of the Inventor's in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new cultivars of classic cone-type (non-anemone type) Echinacea having horizontal ray florets with unique and strong colors. The new cultivar arose from open pollination of an unnamed plant from the Inventor's breeding program, designated as Ec 7025-01, in summer of 2008. Ec 7025-01 was a seedling derived from open pollination of Ec 508-03; a deliberate E. purpurea×E. paradoxa cross. The male parent is unknown. ‘Purple Emperor’ was selected as single unique plant from the resulting seedlings in July of 2010.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by in vitro propagation in Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands in August of 2010 under the direction of the Inventor. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.